Diana and Actaeon
by VANVITELLI, Luigi, Marble, over life-size
As in Rome, the last great Baroque achievement of the Neapolitan circle is connected with fountains. Caserta follows the example of Versailles, and the garden too is fashioned after this model. Even the mythological programme of the nineteen fountains, planned by Vanvitelli from 1752 onwards, is reminiscent of Versailles. What was eventually carried out (1776-79) under Luigi’s son Carlo is much less elaborate than the original projects, but the fountains which exist surpass in extent and grandeur anything that had been done in Italy before. There are, above all, the multi-figured groups of Diana and Actaeon at both sides of the great cascade.